Geghard Monastery

Carved from a single rock Geghard monastery is a medieval complex consisting of two-story stone temples and an adjacent church. The complex was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.
The main church, Katoghike (1215), stands out with its cylindrical drum decorated with a carved arcade and sculptural artworks. The south entrance is also decorated with various carvings.
To the north from the gavit and the main church stand two churches, gavit and a belfry-sepulchre in the upper part. The architect Galdzak's name is carved in the base of the erdik (or lantern) in the first church (1230-50).
The second church and gavit were dag in 1283. The belfry-sepulchre (1288) in the upper part of the cliff is a symmetrical composition with four columns. The monastery has chapels carved in the rocks, caves, numerous crosses and cross-stones enclosed in the rocks.
In 1679 and 1840 Geghard monastery was badly damaged by earthquakes. In 1958-87 it was renovated and restored.
According to the tradition, Geghard was built by Grigor Lusavorich in the beginning of the 4th century on a sacred pagan site.
As a testimony for the coming generations, an inscription on the facade of a cave located atop of the stairs to the east from the church states, 'Saint Grigor Armenian Lusavorich'.
According to a legend, a brother and a sister coming from a noble family decided to leave worldly life and built a temple in the canyon. For a long time they couldn't decide where to build the temple and asked God to help them. When they woke up in the morning they saw their mattock stuck at the top of a mountain. With the help of Saint Virgin the brother and sister step by step carved a temple inside the rock and served in it until the end of the their lives.
According to a legend, Tamerlane, a Central Asian commander and amira, heard about the fame of the Geghama monastery miracles and decided to try them for himself.
With an innumerable army he attacks the canyon and orders to bring him the Holy Spear of Geghard. When the soldiers raise their weapons to attack the holy site, suddenly a lot of armored soldiers start to appear from all the sides dressed up in colorful clothes and attack the enemy.
Tamerlane's army flees in panic: many get blinded or their hands become numb.
Terrified by the scene Tamerlane asks Holy Spear for forgiveness and goes back, promising many gifts to Geghard.
Geghard was first called Ayrivank because of the cave structures that were dag by the monks and used as hermitages. There were about 140 such caves found in the surrounding area.
Starting from the 13th century Ayrivank is referred as Geghardavank in honor of the Holy Spear (same as Geghard) – one of the most important shrines of Armenian Church - that was kept there. It is the spear that the Roman soldier used to pierce God's son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. The 15cm long spearhead was brought to Armenia by Saint Thaddeus apostle. This spearhead was used to bless people in Armenia and in the neighboring countries and was supposed to free them from the various disasters and epidemics.
Today it is used to bless chrism.
Since the 18th century the Holy Spear and the relics of Noah's ark that were in Geghard, have been kept in the museum of the Mother See.
In the pre-Christian period this site was worshiped as sacred because of the sanctified sources. One of those sources has been preserved inside the main gavit until nowadays, and people still believe in its miraculous powers.

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